Greene Co Schools Superintendent Brett Abbotts
A new state law no longer prevents students from changing school districts during the school year.
The law used to have open enrollment deadlines of September 1st and March 1st, which the state legislature eliminated during this year’s legislative session, which became law on July 1st. However, the 90-day student ineligibility for extracurricular activities remains the same. Greene County Schools Superintendent Brett Abbotts tells Raccoon Valley Radio time will tell how this change will impact the district. He shares a concern he has and what it could lead to.
“You know as a huge public education advocate and supporter, it does concern me for some more long term things. Is this going to pave the way for charter schools? That worries me a lot.”
As for impacting the district financially with their certified enrollment count that happens every October 1st, where each public school district receives state funding for the next fiscal year, based on how many students are in seats, Abbotts comments on that.
“As long as we are able to count them in our BEDS (Basic Educational Data Survey) report that comes out on October 1st, then I think we will be okay for anything that happens after that wouldn’t impact us for FY ‘24, since we are now in fiscal year ‘23. So we really have a good month (to) a month and a half or so to really see what sort of impact that will have on us.”
The School Board approved the first reading of its board policy change, as recommended by the Iowa Association of School Boards, at its July meeting. The second reading and final reading is expected to happen at the August Board meeting. Click the links below to see the changes to the policies.